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Kobo Crashes Amazon’s Party With New Device Announcement

The e-book industry has had September 6 marked on its calendar since Amazon revealed in late August that it would be making an announcement that day to a select group of press at an exclusive event in Santa Monica, Calif.

The Kobo Glo ($129.99) is a response to Barnes & Noble’s Nook with GlowLight e-reader that has a built-in reading light – it’s $10 cheaper, too.

The Kobo Mini ($79.99) is a slightly smaller e-reader and is meant to appeal to the cost- and fashion-conscious reader.

The Arc tablet ($199.99 to $249.99) was designed specifically for readers, the company said, and has a built in Pinterest-like feature called “Tapestries” where users can “pin” their favorite books and other content to “tapestries” and receive recommendations. The more they pin, the better the recommendations get, said the company.

While Kobo couldn’t hope to match the excitement surrounding Amazon’s announcement later today, the company did manage to steal a little bit of the Seattle giant’s thunder.

That said, what will Amazon announce later today? Some guesses: new, cheaper Kindle Fire; 10-inch Kindle Fire; very cheap or free e-reader; a back-lit e-reader; a tablet-e-reader Frankenstein.

An Amazon Phone? (The Verge)
Our predictions aside, technology news site The Verge says it has sources that have confirmed that tomorrow’s announcement will include an Amazon phone.

New Head of Random House Children’s (DBW)
Children’s publishing veteran Barbara Marcus will replace Chip Gibson as president and publisher of Random House Children’s Books, effective immediately. Gibson will be leaving to take a break from work. Marcus spent 22 years as head of Scholastic’s publishing and distribution operation until 2005.

Penguin Sued for Age Discrimination (Pub Lunch)
Days after leaving the company, former Penguin head of corporate communications Marilyn Ducksworth is suing her former employer for age discrimination. The suit includes several juicy tidbits, including revelations of a plan for Penguin Group chief financial officer Coram Williams to succeed Penguin USA CEO David Shanks in January 2014.

Riggio to Pay (Bloomberg)
As expected, a judge approved a $29 million settlement between Barnes & Noble founder Len Riggio and investors who claim that he wrongly pushed the company that he controlled into buying his college bookstore chain.

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